"In March 2020, when I moved across the country, I got rid of six boxes of books, including many classic works of literature and nonfiction. Gone were titles by Jane Austen ( Northanger Abbey-I'd rather reread Pride and Prejudice) and Charles Dickens ( A Tale of Two Cities-plain old disinterest). Moby-Dick went (I'd tried for years, and failed). So did Joan Didion's Political Fictions and Robert Caro's The Power Broker (just never got around to them)."
"What I did not-and never would-get rid of: The Snowy Day, Miss Rumphius, The Little House, Cars and Trucks and Things That Go, Blueberries for Sal, and about 50 other children's books. My copies have been with me since the 1970s and '80s. They sit, always, in a place of honor, alongside artist monographs and exhibition catalogs. In 1991, when I left home for college, they moved with me from Davis, California, to New York City."
"During my most recent move, purging my adult library created more physical space for my kid one-Caro's books are roughly 20 times the width of an average Dr. Seuss title-but more important, the sifting represented a setting of priorities. The picture books took precedence. Again, I'm inclined to ask readers not to judge me. It's a defensive crouch that comes from experience: I have heard numerous people suggest that in no way is "kid lit" on par with words written for grown-ups."
"This kind of snobbery is what Mac Barnett, the author of many dozens of children's books-including The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza, the Jack Book series, and Sam and Dave Dig a Hole-calls a "literary misdemeanor." In his new book"
In March 2020, six boxes of adult books were removed during a cross-country move, including classic literature and nonfiction such as works by Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Moby-Dick, Joan Didion, and Robert Caro. Picture books were not discarded, including The Snowy Day, Miss Rumphius, The Little House, Cars and Trucks and Things That Go, and Blueberries for Sal, along with many others. These children’s books had been kept since the 1970s and 1980s and traveled across multiple cities and life changes. Purging adult books created physical space for a child and also clarified priorities, with picture books taking precedence. The text also addresses snobbery that treats children’s literature as inferior to adult writing, calling it a “literary misdemeanor.”
Read at The Atlantic
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